New Orleans — The archbishop has suspended another priest while the Diocense of New Orleans investigates allegations of past abuse in another diocese.

The Rev. Joseph F. Pellettieri, a Redemptorist prist, cannot act as a priest in the eight secular parishes within the archdiocese until the investigation is complete, Rev. William Maestri said Saturday.

"It is very important to know that this is the first allegation against Father Pellettieri. There were no other known allegations against him. Ever," said the Very Rev. Thomas D. Picton, vice provincial for the Redemptorist order.

He said the allegation was made Wednesday by someone who does not want to be identified and has not filed any legal papers or charges.

It accuses Pellettieri, 62, of misconduct in 1967, when he was a teacher and principal at Notre Dame High School in Crowley, Picton said. He said he cannot give any details about the allegations.

Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes suspended Pellettier on Thursday, said Maestri, a spokesman for the diocese.

Nobody in the New Orleans archdiocese, where he arrived June 1, has ever accused Pellettieri of sexual misconduct with minors, he said.

Picton said Pellettieri served in the Lafayette diocense from 1967 util August 1976, and served in Waterford, Wis., and in Baton Rouge and Alexandria before coming to the New Orleans archdiocese.